Fortunately, I don’t see a lot, or even any, of this behavior here in the People’s Republic of Boulder. A place where even the smokers are reasonably cosiderate.
You’ll spot it one day, though it’s become pretty uncommon, the little pile of cigarettes and ashes, all crumpled and gross and brown by where a driver’s door would open in the empty spot. It’s pretty insane really. I never quite got how smokers can maintain the illusion that their ciggy butts are biodegradable and vanish overnight.
In time the whole vehicle becomes, and smells, like an ash tray!
I suppose it is better than the ash tray being emptied through the nearside window while they pass us!
I would know when our Xerox printer repairman was at work on our printer. 50 feet away I could smell his cigars. The elevator would stink the whole day, and just a wiff the next day.
I’ve heard something similar. The main reason is (supposed to be) that the air conditioning (ventilation) systems of cars have air intakes quite low to the ground, where the emissions are most dense. A bicycle rider (with the exception of recumbents, probably) has their head much higher, where the emissions are already significantly less dense. However, a quick google search provided me with a few articles contradicting each other – some say the exact opposite of what was suggested here.
In L.A., with lots of stop and go driving, the levels of smog in cars was about 4X the amount pedestrians were exposed to. Hopefully, the passing of cars mixes the air up pretty well.
Cycling in the city, I wonder about the quality of the pollutants I’m breathing in. Then again, the backend of vehicle exhaust has passed through a catalytic converter and is generally emissions controlled. A cigarette filter is a joke by comparison.
I find it ironic – to say the least – that we have very strict pollution laws for cars, but nothing’s done about the pollution from smoking. I can smell a smoker from 3 or 4 cars back – putting out more pollution than a 1960s era diesel.
People can gum up their own lungs if they want, but they should be fined for littering for tossing their butts! When I owned a house with a lawn, it was disgusting having to clean up the literally dozens verging on hundreds of cigarette butts on the lawn by the edge of the road, yuck!
The story in the UK is that Sir Walter Raleigh, having brought tobacco from the Americas to Europe for the first time ever, was enjoying a smoke when his servant, thinking he had accidentally set light to himself, extinguished him with a bucket of water.
They are in Montana. A friend of mine got a $150 ticket for littering after a cop saw her toss a cigarette butt out her window at night. I love that, and even liked it when I used to smoke and toss the butts.
yet, these same peple would have a hissy if your dog left a deposit on their lawn.
Am not saying its ok to drop landmines in a neighbors yard… just drawing an analogy..
Rick, do we have to have all that advertising for the books and the embedded youtube video above the cartoon? I realise you want to sell stuff, but can’t the paid members be allowed not to see it?
Agreed. I don’t mind seeing some ads, but it would be nice if the actual comic strip could appear above the fold. I wouldn’t mind putting an ad between the strip and the comments.
Whatever happened to Yehuda’s Van Swerengen (sp?) commuter with the North Road bars? Did it get retired after the snowstorm incident? I thought Brother Pilot had done a repair and restoration while Moon was in the hospital recovering. I only mention it because he’s been riding the Coventry road bike a lot lately and I wondered if, like many of us, Yehuda likes to mix up his ride now and again.
Speaking of which, I wish Rick would market decals for the strip’s bikes, along the lines of Rivendell’s “Resurrectio” decals for rebuilds on old frames. Do you suppose the market for it would be there? I’d love to have a set of “Van Swerengen” decals ofr my town bike and “Coventry” decals for my old painted over Bridgestone. That’d raise some eyebrows on the trail and in the bike shops.
Actually, I have it on good authority that Rick’s next business endeavor will be partnering with Waterford to actually produce ‘Van Sweringen’ and ‘Coventry’ bicycles. He doesn’t want the dummy decals out there diluting the brand.
You gotta come to Vancouver where hardly anyone smokes at all anywhere. It’s almost a retro anachronistic thing like smoking a pipe or learning how to shoe a horse.
The fact that I can always tell which drivers are smoking reefer makes me think more police should be on bicycles. For the record, I”m all for freedom to smoke reefer, just don’t drive afterwards, okay?
I have reported 2 houses for leaks coming from natural gas meters. The first house the people were afraid of having an outdoor BBQ but didn’t call the gas company. The second house police saw me stopped and ordered me to leave before I could call. I called from home though. I think me riding a recumbent had me smelling at a lower level than most bicyclists. It was not nearly as strong wen I stood up.
By the way, I LOVE that you’re producing comics again & can’t wait for my books to arrive. When it looked like you had stopped for good, my wife despaired at my despair.
Also, a little confused on the Alley Cat: the announcement says a new date will be announced soon, but the small print says 6-7 Feb. Any clarification would help.
If it has not already been rescheduled, I vote for it to happen on a weekend; it would make it much easier for me to participate!
Hey, fellow winter riders! Or anyone that might know, really….
I have a studded Schwalbe that refuses to stay on any of my rims. It worked fine last winter, and I’m wondering if maybe I stored it poorly or something. Could the bead have stretched?
Possibly a broken bead. Go around the edge, squeezing every 1/2 cm. You might find a gap where you can squeeze. Can happend when you level the tire on or off the rim.
.. Or the ashtray emptied at traffic lights!
Or the ashtray emptied in parking lots!
Fortunately, I don’t see a lot, or even any, of this behavior here in the People’s Republic of Boulder. A place where even the smokers are reasonably cosiderate.
seriously? people do this!?! *faith in humanity slips down a notch*
You’ll spot it one day, though it’s become pretty uncommon, the little pile of cigarettes and ashes, all crumpled and gross and brown by where a driver’s door would open in the empty spot. It’s pretty insane really. I never quite got how smokers can maintain the illusion that their ciggy butts are biodegradable and vanish overnight.
In time the whole vehicle becomes, and smells, like an ash tray!
I suppose it is better than the ash tray being emptied through the nearside window while they pass us!
I just remembered that Rick published a strip with similar content a while back…
Many years ago I was assigned a company car that was previously assigned to a cigar smoker. Ugh.
I would know when our Xerox printer repairman was at work on our printer. 50 feet away I could smell his cigars. The elevator would stink the whole day, and just a wiff the next day.
It should be called an ” as$ tray”!
As$es are good things. Marvelous things, sources of great pleasure and delight. Please don’t disparage them so!
Even drivers who don’t smoke are breathing in more vehicle exhaust than cyclists on the same roads.
I’ve often wondered about how much emmissions I’m breathing when I ride in traffic. Do you have a source for this?
I’ve heard something similar. The main reason is (supposed to be) that the air conditioning (ventilation) systems of cars have air intakes quite low to the ground, where the emissions are most dense. A bicycle rider (with the exception of recumbents, probably) has their head much higher, where the emissions are already significantly less dense. However, a quick google search provided me with a few articles contradicting each other – some say the exact opposite of what was suggested here.
In L.A., with lots of stop and go driving, the levels of smog in cars was about 4X the amount pedestrians were exposed to. Hopefully, the passing of cars mixes the air up pretty well.
Some recumbents are not that low at all. My head is about where a roadie’s head would be on the drops.
http://www.yourhoustonnews.com/spring/news/dirty-air-or-not-urban-biking-not-an-exercise-in/article_ea4842fb-aa8c-5c43-9401-7c82d4800aee.html
Cycling in the city, I wonder about the quality of the pollutants I’m breathing in. Then again, the backend of vehicle exhaust has passed through a catalytic converter and is generally emissions controlled. A cigarette filter is a joke by comparison.
Oh I think you are getting the highest quality pollutants made by man today. Breathe deap and enjoy it!
I find it ironic – to say the least – that we have very strict pollution laws for cars, but nothing’s done about the pollution from smoking. I can smell a smoker from 3 or 4 cars back – putting out more pollution than a 1960s era diesel.
Or lawn mowers and leaf blowers!
People can gum up their own lungs if they want, but they should be fined for littering for tossing their butts! When I owned a house with a lawn, it was disgusting having to clean up the literally dozens verging on hundreds of cigarette butts on the lawn by the edge of the road, yuck!
I remember a “Bloom County” comic where Opus fantasizes about taking a firehose to some smokers… If only… If only….
The story in the UK is that Sir Walter Raleigh, having brought tobacco from the Americas to Europe for the first time ever, was enjoying a smoke when his servant, thinking he had accidentally set light to himself, extinguished him with a bucket of water.
To bad he didn’t use a chamber pot to put out the fire….
They are in Montana. A friend of mine got a $150 ticket for littering after a cop saw her toss a cigarette butt out her window at night. I love that, and even liked it when I used to smoke and toss the butts.
yet, these same peple would have a hissy if your dog left a deposit on their lawn.
Am not saying its ok to drop landmines in a neighbors yard… just drawing an analogy..
Rick, do we have to have all that advertising for the books and the embedded youtube video above the cartoon? I realise you want to sell stuff, but can’t the paid members be allowed not to see it?
Agreed. I don’t mind seeing some ads, but it would be nice if the actual comic strip could appear above the fold. I wouldn’t mind putting an ad between the strip and the comments.
Fixed – thanks for the feedback. Keep it coming – want to make sure you all have a great time here.
Fanks!! Oh, you can be sure we’ll have a great time here anyway, this is just the cherry on the top.
Is it really a big deal? Just scroll down really fast.
How about putting it down at the bottom?
So did anyone else notice that Orbea has introduced a real Grow Bike?!
http://www.orbea.com/es-es/bicis/familias/grow/
You’re ahead of the curve, Rick!
Guess not. Does it look feasible? Is it relatively attractive? What’s it made of?
Just checked Orbea’s website and can find nothing on it. where’d you hear about it?
Ah, I see it now! I was trying to open in Explorere and got a “page not found” box. Opened in Firefox okay.
That is one ugly little series of bikes, but I’ll bet kids’ll love em. A tad pricey for a kid’s bike though.
Actually, I think they’re WAY cool, but I ride a Biria…
Living in Boulder, I thought that “Grow Bike” meant something else.
http://www.treehugger.com/bikes/grow-bicycle-grows-your-kids-video.html
Whatever happened to Yehuda’s Van Swerengen (sp?) commuter with the North Road bars? Did it get retired after the snowstorm incident? I thought Brother Pilot had done a repair and restoration while Moon was in the hospital recovering. I only mention it because he’s been riding the Coventry road bike a lot lately and I wondered if, like many of us, Yehuda likes to mix up his ride now and again.
Speaking of which, I wish Rick would market decals for the strip’s bikes, along the lines of Rivendell’s “Resurrectio” decals for rebuilds on old frames. Do you suppose the market for it would be there? I’d love to have a set of “Van Swerengen” decals ofr my town bike and “Coventry” decals for my old painted over Bridgestone. That’d raise some eyebrows on the trail and in the bike shops.
Actually, I have it on good authority that Rick’s next business endeavor will be partnering with Waterford to actually produce ‘Van Sweringen’ and ‘Coventry’ bicycles. He doesn’t want the dummy decals out there diluting the brand.
Glass bicycles? (Thinking of Waterford Crystal http://na.wwrd.com/ae/ca/icat/waterford?notify=yes )
You gotta come to Vancouver where hardly anyone smokes at all anywhere. It’s almost a retro anachronistic thing like smoking a pipe or learning how to shoe a horse.
The fact that I can always tell which drivers are smoking reefer makes me think more police should be on bicycles. For the record, I”m all for freedom to smoke reefer, just don’t drive afterwards, okay?
I’m with you on that, I can smell so much around me when I ride that people in cars just miss.
I have reported 2 houses for leaks coming from natural gas meters. The first house the people were afraid of having an outdoor BBQ but didn’t call the gas company. The second house police saw me stopped and ordered me to leave before I could call. I called from home though. I think me riding a recumbent had me smelling at a lower level than most bicyclists. It was not nearly as strong wen I stood up.
Reporting for Grammar Cop duty
)
Typo: “…trying to being…” in last frame….
By the way, I LOVE that you’re producing comics again & can’t wait for my books to arrive. When it looked like you had stopped for good, my wife despaired at my despair.
Also, a little confused on the Alley Cat: the announcement says a new date will be announced soon, but the small print says 6-7 Feb. Any clarification would help.
If it has not already been rescheduled, I vote for it to happen on a weekend; it would make it much easier for me to participate!
Thanks!
We’re still working on a final date – apologies for any confusion.
Just seeing if adding my avatar worked….
Cake
Hey, fellow winter riders! Or anyone that might know, really….
I have a studded Schwalbe that refuses to stay on any of my rims. It worked fine last winter, and I’m wondering if maybe I stored it poorly or something. Could the bead have stretched?
Thanks,
Confused & Frustrated
Possibly a broken bead. Go around the edge, squeezing every 1/2 cm. You might find a gap where you can squeeze. Can happend when you level the tire on or off the rim.
How did you store it? I put mine in the corner of my closet, no folding, twisting, etc. Check the bead for stretch, warping or tears?
Leaning up against the others. Have 2 sets, but the other 3 tires seem fine….